M O U N T I S A C E N T R E F O R R U A L A N D R E O T E H E A L T H
S U B M I S S I O N T O
S e n a t e C o m m u n i t y a f f a i r s C o m m i t t e e o n N a t i o n a l D i s a b i l i t y I n s u r a n c e S c h e m e B i l l 2 0 1 2
The Mount Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health (MICRRH) congratulations the Parliament for considering the National Disability Insurance Scheme and strongly supports the notion. Despite what seems an intractable health workforce distribution problem that is likely to impede the success of such a scheme, implementation guidelines with sufficient flexibility for local solutions in remote and rural areas, including access to rehabilitation and or early intervention will ensure the desired services and support for people on NDS can be provided and supported creatively.
MICRRH in partnership with North QLD Rehab service (based in Townsville nine hundred kilometers away) Central and North West Medicare local and the North West Hospital and health Service have collaborated to implement an innovation in service learning for People requiring neurological Rehabilitation. This is known as the NORTH WEST COMMUNITY REHAB – A TEACHING
NEUROLOGICAL REHABILITATION SERVICE
The Workforce problem
In North West Queensland, there are concomitant challenges surrounding access to rehabilitation for people with neurological or ageing conditions, service and staff capability and allied health student clinical placement opportunities. The lack of rehabilitation services for people with neurological or ageing problems and the associated authentic and contextualised clinical teaching opportunities in North West Queensland (NWQ) needed to be addressed. The project utilises a service learning model to provide previously nonexistent neurological rehabilitation services to people of outback north west Queensland featuring authentic high quality specialist clinical and context teaching and interprofessional learning in a vertically integrated education model to build the capacity of both the current and future workforce.
The innovation is… the development and implementation of the ‘North West Community Rehab project’, a teaching neurological rehabilitation service based in Mt ISA, NWQ. The purpose of the service is to address both the lack of neuro - rehabilitation services, the lack of specialised allied health professionals in NWQ with the appropriate skills to provide rehabilitation services, despite an ageing population and the number of people with neurological conditions increasing, and the associated lack of authentic clinical teaching and service learning opportunities to build a future workforce
A University Department of Rural and Remote Health Funded by the Department of Health and Ageing
Fifteen weeks of person focused rehab programs were delivered in 2012, utilising students, locally based allied health staff and specialist neurological clinicians comprising activities spanning prevention, early intervention, post-discharge and long term follow up for people with neurological and ageing conditions. Interprofessional student pairs, local clinicians and specialist staff were exposed to a range of disciplines contribution to rehabilitation in a remote context, developing a deeper understanding of the disciplines contribution and appreciation of potential for recovery and quality of life in the North West. Additional allied health disciplines were engaged for staff education and services.
The service model include utilises evidence-based delivery across prevention, early intervention, post discharge (when available) and long term support participant and family / carer-centred approach that tailors services to individual need a multi-disciplinary approach to interprofessional learning comprising local generalist and specialist allied health clinicians and students from a range of professions funding to bring specialist supervisors for the teaching clinic and locums to relieve the generalist allied health for upskilling and supervision vertically integrated education and training to build the capacity of the current and future health workforce. The innovation seeks to provide comprehensive neurological rehabilitation services that meets the needs of people living in
NWQ
an allied health workforce that is capable of providing neurological services now and into the future, through student placements / service learning, mentorship, and professional development Inter-professional student placements in rehabilitation in a remote community setting.
Demand for services was high, exceeding capacity for most programs. Participant, student and service evaluations were positive with overall program ratings high. Students valued multidisciplinary opportunity, small teams getting to know their clients over time and in context. They felt as though they were making a difference. The model builds capacity, leaves a legacy and illustrates the feature of a successful clinical placement program. The inter-professional learning was highly valued by all and provoked an extension on the possibilities for additional disciplines to be included. The intermittent nature of the service generated challenges overcome by collaboration between organizations forming a pathway to future sustainability
NW Rehab project experience demonstrates that innovative service learning models overcomes much need access to quality services, upskill existing rural and remote professionals and provide extended, excellent authentic clinical teaching and life exposure to health students and has broader applicability in a range of areas of previously nonexistent services, poor access or shortages.
This has application to the broader workforce needs for disability services and demonstrates the potential of the University Departments of Rural health such as MICRRH leading collaboration for innovation in what is so welcome the introduction of a National Disability Scheme.